


The Last Letter

by anne_ammons



Series: Drabbles for Fairest of the Rare - Lovefest 2020 [8]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Grief/Mourning, Loss, Present Tense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:20:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22827823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anne_ammons/pseuds/anne_ammons
Summary: Hello friends - The prompt was Ted and Andromeda and love letters.
Relationships: Andromeda Black Tonks/Ted Tonks
Series: Drabbles for Fairest of the Rare - Lovefest 2020 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1633945
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6
Collections: Love Fest 2020





	The Last Letter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PacificRimbaud](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PacificRimbaud/gifts).



> Hello friends - The prompt was Ted and Andromeda and love letters.

As she walks through the doorway, the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. The house is unnaturally quiet, but nothings is amiss. She loves the warmth of their house, such a contrast to the home she had grown up in. She sets her purchases down on the counter and sees a piece of parchment folded there.

“Ted! I’m back!” She calls out for her husband, frowning when there is no answering call.

She sees a piece of parchment on the table and picks it up, a slight tremble in her hand.

My dearest Andromeda,

By the time you read this, I will be gone. I’m sorry to have not taken the chance to say goodbye in person. Forgive me, when it comes to you, I have always been weak. It is hard enough to leave you in these circumstances, even when I know that by leaving, I am keeping you safe.

While I would much rather stand by your side, we both know that you will be safer without me there. There are those that would target you directly, and I will not be the reason that those who are most dear to me would be in more danger because of my presence.

I can only hope our separation won’t be so long. I don’t imagine that I will be able to be in touch very often, but I will be as often as I can.

Take care of yourself. Take care of Dora. Take care of our grandchild.

Know that I love you more than life itself.

Yours always,

T

She runs from room to room looking for him, all the while knowing that her search is in vain. She curses the errand he had sent her on. She thought it had been odd, but never suspected it was subterfuge.He had sent her out so he could leave, knowing that there was no way that she would have let him leave — no way she would have left his side if she had known what he was planning to do.

This is what it has come to. The world has gone mad, and now the madness has come directly to her door. She allows herself a moment for heartache and then she gets up, her resolve steeled. There is work to be done. If Ted can’t come home until You-Know-Who is gone, then she will do everything in her power to ensure that it happens as quickly as possible.

* * *

It’s late. There’s a knock at the door. Andromeda hurries to open it. No one would arrive this late unless it were important, and the protections around the house have held, otherwise there wouldn’t have been a knock. She finds Remus standing there, an envelope in his hand.

“What is this?”

“I’m so sorry, Andromeda.”

“What do you mean?”

“Please, let’s move from the doorway. The night is dark.”

She stands aside to let him pass and shuts the door behind him, but doesn’t move into the room.

Remus’s head hangs low. He won’t look her in the eyes.

“Remus Lupin, you tell me right now! What brings you to my door so late?”

“He’s gone, Andi. Ted’s gone.”

She is falling before the words leave his mouth.

* * *

When she wakes, she is on the sofa, a blanket tucked around her. She sees the envelope that Remus had been carrying on the table next to her. She turns her head and finds Remus’s eyes on her, a glass of firewhisky in his hand.

“Does Dora know?”

“She does. I’m sorry, you know she would be here if she could.”

“Why are you here, then? She shouldn’t be alone.” Her words sound more accusing than she intends. If Remus notices, he doesn’t show it.

“She insisted I be the one to come. Molly is with her.”

She looks at her son-in-law and sighs. He always looks tired, so tired, but he is a good partner for Dora, an anchoring for her daughter whose thoughts so often fly in the clouds. She is like her father in that way, she thinks. Her thoughts return to Ted.

“What happened?”

“We don’t know. It looks like he was caught by Snatchers.”

“So he wasn’t tortured?”

She notes that Remus doesn’t answer right away.

“Was my sister involved?”

“We have no way of knowing for sure, but it doesn’t seem likely.”

“And what is this?” She gestures to the envelope next to her.

Remus sighs heavily. “Some time ago, before he left, Ted asked me to hold on to it for him. And to give it to you if anything happened to him.”

“You knew? You knew what he was planning?” Her fists clench at the thought that Ted could have been stopped — and that if he had, she wouldn’t be having this conversation.

Remus shakes his head. “No, not at all. He just asked me to hold the envelope for you. You know how uncertain things have been. I didn’t think it out of the ordinary at all. He left another one for Dora… and one for his grandchild.”

The tears start to fall and she can’t seem to stop them. He’s gone. Ted is really gone. She cries for the spouse she will never again see on this side of the veil. She cries for her daughter who has already had to give up so much in the war. And she cries for her grandchild who will never know the quiet strength and patience that was the man she fell in love with so many years ago. Remus sits by her and places a hand on her shoulder. He is a good man, she thinks. Ted always liked him. He was free from the prejudices she had been raised with.

Ted had taught her so much about life and love. Her life would have been so different without him. She shuddered at the thought of her sister, Narcissa, living with that lunatic in her home. That could have been her lot, her life, as the wife of Lucius Malfoy. But, instead, there had been Ted. She wiped her eyes.

“Go home, Remus.”

“I can’t. Dora wants me to stay.”

“And I have told you to go home to your wife. I’d like some time alone to grieve.” She reaches for the letter and clutches it in her hand. “Just me and Ted."

Remus squeezes her shoulder. “Are you sure?”

“Tell Dora I’ll come by in the morning.”

He stands to leave and stoops to kiss her forehead. “Let us know if you need anything. Dora and I are both here for you.”

 _For now_ , Andromeda thinks. _Nothing is certain in times like these. Nothing at all_.

She hears the click of the front door closing and sits, thinking about what happens next and how it all went so very wrong.

* * *

When she is ready, she goes to the kitchen and brews herself a cup of tea and sets her saucer down next to the envelope.

She doesn’t want to open it. In it are written the very last things he’ll say to her. Her heart aches with just the thought.She slips a finger under the flap of the envelope, breaking the wax seal. His seal. It was one of the first gifts she had given him, all those years ago.

_“Every wizard needs a stamp to mark his correspondence.”_ She had told him.

She takes out the vellum sheets and unfolds them, tracing her fingers over the familiar handwriting. Blue ink. He always favored blue over the traditional black and he preferred to write with a fountain pen, rather than a quill.

_“Andi, some Muggles things just work better — and this is one of them.”_

She takes a breath and begins to read.

My dearest Andromeda,

If you are reading this, then something has gone horribly wrong. I’m so, so sorry, my love. I never meant for this to happen. But, if you are reading this, it means that you are safe. And more than anything, I want that to be so.

I know you are sad right now, and probably more than a little upset with me.

(She can’t help but chuckle at that.)

And I don’t have the words to make it better, although I sure wish I did.

Instead, all I can do is tell you how our years together have made me the happiest man. I can have accomplished nothing more in my life than to have been a good husband to you and a good father to Dora. You are my greatest treasures. In the end, nothing else matters more than that.

This isn’t what either of us wanted, and I’ve got no answers for you, Andi. This next bit is going to be hard. But you are the strongest woman I know. Always have been. Don’t let what has happened take away from what we built together. My love remains with you, regardless of where I may now be.

Know that I love you more than life itself.

Yours always,

T

Andromeda sits there, tracing her finger over the T, as if by doing so, she can hear the sound of his pen scratching on the paper. As if by doing so, she can place her hand in the same place that his had been when he wrote these words.

She closes her eyes for a moment and imagines that she can feel his arms wrapped around her, as he would do each time when he greeted her.

It’s the very last letter. She folds it up and carefully slips it back into its envelope, thinking about how the pages will wear and the ink will fade over time.

She rises and goes to her closet. There she finds a box. It is a gorgeous box carved from the same wood as her wand. It had been a present from Ted. She opens the lid to reveal a stack of letters. She places the letter at the top of the pile and then closes it, her hand lingering on the top.

“I love you too, Teddy.”

**Author's Note:**

> So, the story is not quite done yet. (I was as surprised as you!)
> 
> So, I'll be posting another chapter at some point.


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